Energy bill now in debit by £178. Should I pay it off now?

[kettleoffish]

I moved into the current property nearly 6 mths ago. The central heating system is very old and the house very draughty so we've left the heating on most of the time. We've been paying by monthly direct debit of £81 per month. My recent bill says that our account is now in debit by about £178.

There is an option to pay the debit amount off now. Am wondering what are the consequences if I do, or if I don't. As we are moving out in January to a new property, I don't want to accumulate a credit amount on my account as it might be a hassle to try and get a refund. But... I've never tried getting a refund before so don't know if it's really going to be a hassle. We're with E.ON.

Any advice?

if it is a debit, don't make work with the supplier as many of them have duff computer systems. Keep taking readings, don't waste energy by walking round naked and make sure you have enough money to pay it off when you move.

you will start with the existing supplier in the new property. Doing nothing can cost you hundreds of pounds a year. I've just been doing comparisons for a couple of people who were on completely the wrong tariff (the variable rate one) and wasting that much. Now, this is great for the rest of us as those who do nothing mean those of us who keep on top of it can have cheaper energy.

but if you aren't happy paying other people's bills, do some comparisons after you move.

remember all that matters is unit cost, standing charge and how much you use, plus the minor tweaks for dual fuel, direct debit etc. The estimated savings are fudged, so put together a spreadsheet and do some sums.

I don't know about reducing the dd by half if she pays 175 and and there's 750 credit £300 had been used over the mildest six months of the year. On average you use two thirds or more of your annual gas between nov and feb. Which means that there's likely to be around £600 burned in the next few months. Current dd will cover that potential use and a refund of credit will help for Christmas . But that's just my opionion

to build up that mount of credit in 7 months the DD is clearly far too high. I would drop it to at least £100.

Thanks everyone, the DD is based on our DD with the previous supplier although I had a credit balance when I left them too and now we have a new boiler to reduce gas costs.

I wasn't bothered before as Ovo pay 3% interest on a credit balance and I would prefer to build up a credit balance than have an unexpectedly large bill at the end of winter. Our gas bill has been really low over the first few months with Ovo since we mainly use our electric shower for washing rather than baths. It's just when we had our latest bill based on actual meter readings from end October to end November and with the heating on throughout the last month and it was still less than the DD that I suddenly thought that I could reclaim some credit. They have just emailed back to me that they will refund £300 which is fine for now as we will be home with the DC over the Christmas holidays so will have the heating on all day which we normally don't on weekdays.